Fast fashion is ‘fast’ in a number of senses: the rate of production is fast; the customer’s decision to purchase is fast; delivery is fast; and garments are worn fast, usually only a few times before being discarded. It is a model that is entirely unsustainable.
According to the Fixing Fashion report, a scathing cross-party analysis published by the UK Parliament in 2019 (see below for more), the fast fashion business model is “encouraging over-consumption and generating excessive waste.”
Fast fashion has generally become the norm across the clothing sector, with most of the brands in this guide utilising elements of the fast fashion business model to varying degrees.
However, the worst offenders in the UK are some of the newer brands on the block, notably: Boohoo, Pretty Little Thing, Nasty Gal (all of which are owned by Boohoo), and Missguided.
These brands market their clothes primarily to young people, especially young women, with promises of cut-price individuality, female empowerment and next-day delivery.
It is on these brands that this section will focus.